


Fun in the Sun

by PortalHopper



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Cookies, Day At The Beach, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Pizza, Slice of Life, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 19:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12042435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PortalHopper/pseuds/PortalHopper
Summary: Alex is very concerned for his boyfriend's pale, basement-dweller skin, and drags him to the beach.





	Fun in the Sun

_Hey, he’s refusing to come with us._ Alex read the text from Maru and rolled his eyes.

_I’ll be right up. Start walking if you want._ He finished tying his sneakers and headed towards the carpenter’s shop at a medium jog. He shouldn’t have been surprised Seb would try to weasel out of the group beach trip now that the first good day of summer was actually here. It was all well and good to promise to go when it was the middle of winter, but now the sun was shining and he wasn’t willing to come outside during the middle of the day.

Alex slowed to a walk as he approached the shop. Maru, Robin, and Demetrius came out the front door, dressed for beach fun. Robin and Maru were weighed down with towels, sunscreen, and snacks, while Demetrius was wrestling with two ridiculously oversized umbrellas, clearly concerned for the skin of his daughter and his ginger wife. Probably concerned for his exceptionally pale stepson too, even if it was on a subconscious level.

Robin waved. Alex smiled and asked, “So where exactly is our little cave bat?”

Robin pointed at the oak by the lake. Alex could see a whiff of smoke coming from the far side. Maru said with an impish grin, “We got him to get dressed and ready, and he made it upstairs and out the door, but as soon as he stepped outside he hissed and shrieked, ‘It burns!’ and ran for the shade of the tree.”

“Maru!” Robin scolded with a hint of a smile. “There definitely was some groaning and eye rolling though. I believe his argument boiled down to, ‘Nope.’”

Alex shook his head. “Don’t worry, he’s coming. You guys go ahead. Could you grab Dusty on your way? His leash is hanging over the fence and I left a water bowl next to the leash.”

“Sure!” Maru said. Dusty adored Maru and her ear scratches.

Alex started for the smoking tree as the rest of the family headed out. And there was his bat boy, hiding in the shade and adorably grumpy from being forced out of his cave in the middle of the day. He was dressed in bright red trunks, which were a surprise, and his usual black hoodie, which should have been surprising in this heat but wasn’t. He leaned with one hand against the tree, addressing the back of his boyfriend’s head.

“You promised.” Seb’s only response was an extra-large smoke cloud.

Alex poked him in the shoulder. “You. Promised. C’mon man, is it really going to be that bad?”

“Can’t we do this some other time? When there won’t be people?”

“So … either after the sun goes down, even though the sun is half the point of going to the beach, or waiting until the weather cools off again in the fall.”

“Yup. Sounds great.”

Alex thought for a moment, then grinned. He pulled off his white sleeveless shirt and dropped it within Seb’s eye line, leaving himself in just his lime green swim trunks and sneakers. He stuck his thumbs in the band of his trunks, which were already sitting low on his hips, and sauntered in front of Seb.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to ask Sam to help me with my sunscreen, and then I can return the favor. Or Elliott! I bet I could get him hot enough to take off that ridiculous coat. Maybe he’ll let me run my fingers through his hair afterwards.”

“Fuck you, Mullner.” He’d finally gotten Batty’s attention. Seb was eyeing his bare chest and his cigarette hand was frozen half-way to his mouth.

Alex laughed softly, then leaned in a little, his muscled, 6’1” frame dwarfing that of the slender, 5’9” programmer. He gently took the cigarette out of Seb’s hand and tossed it towards the river. That inspired a flash of irritation in Seb’s eyes, but he didn’t complain. He had promised to try and cut back, and unless he was truly craving one, he’d let Alex take it away.

“I’m just concerned for the safety of this valley. If the Empire decides to try and bomb us, your glowing white skin would give away the position of the town to the warplanes. It’s downright selfish of you to not get some vitamin D.”

Seb’s deep brown eyes pushed back at the gaze of Alex’s jeweled green eyes. He put a hand on Alex’s chest, and in a low voice with a crooked smirk, he said, “That’s really not the vitamin D I’m interested in right now.”

Man, he really must want out of this trip. His verbal attempts at seduction were usually cleverer than that. And honestly, if it hadn’t been the first warm day since last year, Seb probably would have been able to persuade Alex to spend the day doing activities that would get them kicked off the beach. But Alex had been cooped up for too long to be distracted from the promise of sun and sand. He slowly ran a hand down the front of Seb’s hoodie, pretending he was headed for the front of his shorts, but as soon as he felt the lighter and pack of cigarettes in the hoodie’s front pocket, he snatched them out and dumped on the ground. Before Sebastian could protest, Alex ducked down and scooped him into a fireman’s carry across his bare shoulders.

“Asshole, that was my lighter!” Seb was trying to twist so he could look Alex full in the face as they started towards the beach, but it was pointless. Alex had him well secured.

“It’ll still be there when we get back.” Alex wriggled his shoulders as if he were just adjusting himself, but really he was enjoying and encouraging the growing poking sensation in the right side of his neck. He looked around as he continued down the mountain, and seeing no one, he slowly slid the hand latched behind Sebastian’s knee up the back of his thigh until it was up his trunks, then suddenly pinched him hard on his bare ass. That earned him a yelp and some briefly thrashing legs, followed by a swift barrage of pokes in the parts of his abs and rib cage that Seb could reach. There was also some muttered accusations of being a caveman jock that Alex took in stride as he tried to resist the urge to dance away from the poking fingers that were tickling him.

As they reached the edge of the town square, Alex considered carrying him all the way to the beach, but decided that would be too much. Even though everyone knew they were dating and no one had a problem with it, Sebastian still wasn’t comfortable with PDAs in the middle of town because he didn’t like anyone knowing any details whatsoever about his personal life. Alex carefully lowered Seb to the ground, who immediately pulled his hood over his head as far as he could to cover up his burning cheeks and shoved his hands into his front pocket to pull down his sweatshirt in front of his crotch. Alex asked, “Are you going to go willingly the rest of the way?”

“Fiiiiiiiiiine,” Sebastian groaned with an exaggerated eye roll. Alex shook his head with mock despair.

“Whiner.” They made the rest of the trip in comfortable silence. When they got to the beach they found Seb’s family set up with an enthusiastic Dusty near the trees. Since everyone liked Dusty, he was off his leash, doing the best impression of a puppy that his old joints would allow. Maru was already out in the waves, having an intense but giggly splash war with Penny, while Robin was still under one of the umbrellas, working herself over with a thick layer of sunscreen with the assistance of Demetrius. Alex and Seb sat under the other umbrella, where Sebastian slowly pulled off his hoodie and pulled his knees into his chest with a small sigh. He peered up at the sky, squinting.

“You remember the sun, don’t you?” Alex said, jostling Seb’s shoulder with his own. Seb shot him a look that said he was starting to take the teasing too far. Alex held up his hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay.” Alex scanned the rest of the beach. Without taking an actual count, it looked like most of the town was either sunning themselves on the sand or out in the water. A quick wave of sadness rolled over Alex as he thought about his grandparents and how they never had the energy to come to the beach for anything besides the festivals anymore, but he shook it off and grabbed a bottle of sunscreen from Robin’s bag. He and Sebastian took turns helping each other apply the sunscreen, with Sebastian perhaps spending more time than was actually necessary on Alex’s lower back and obliques, but Alex wasn’t about to stop him. As they were finishing up, Sam, Vincent and Abigail stepped into view. Sam was carrying a boogie board under one arm, and Vincent had a junior-sized version under his own arm to match. He was bouncing up and down in excitement, since Sam had promised to teach him how to use it today.

“Well, look who flew down the mountain to join the rest of the population!” Sam said, grinning. Sebastian responded with a raised-up fist that was their stand-in for the middle finger when Vincent was around. Sam just laughed and dropped their towels in a pile.

“You ready, squirt?”

“Yeah yeah yeah!” Vincent squealed.

“Race ya!” Sam jogged to the water’s edge slowly enough so Vincent got there slightly before him. Abigail followed them into the water, holding Vincent’s board as he sat on it so Sam could demonstrate on his own board.

“Sam’s really good with him,” Alex said quietly as Seb leaned back into him.

“Yeah, he’s really stepped up. Hard to believe he’s the same guy who watered each of Lewis’s daisies with a different color of food dye every night last spring until Lewis thought he’d found a new species of daisy that slowly turned rainbow colors somehow,” Seb said with a small smile.

Apparently Demetrius had been listening, because he chuckled at the recollection.

“That was actually pretty clever. Lewis called me up, all impressed with himself and ready to put something on the town’s website. He just hung up on me when I called him back with the soil test results, and since then he’s pretended like it never happened.”

Robin laughed. “Oh, I completely forgot about that! I ran into him at Pierre’s the morning before you called him, and he was all ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ about having something important in the works. Like he assumed you would keep it a secret from me or something.”

Alex cracked up. “Okay, I definitely missed that particular- oh, hey Mr. Mayor!”

Lewis had just walked into view, surveying the beach with the eye of a benevolent dictator. It was strange to see him in swimming attire and without his hat to cover up the obvious bald spot on the back of his head.

“Hello, everyone,” he said with his usual tone of practiced good humor, then slowly meandered off Marnie-wards. She was near the bridge leading to the tide pools, and she was laughing as she watched Jas industriously digging up sand to bury Shane. Shane was either being a good sport about it or he was too tired to care, since he was laying there not moving except for the occasional head-lift to examine her progress. Robin managed to stifle her giggles as she watched Lewis walk away, obviously still thinking about the daisies.

Alex had had enough people-watching and was ready to get into the water. He stood up and made puppy-dog eyes at Sebastian until he got up too. As they started walking, Demetrius called after them, “Boys, solar noon is in about 45 minutes so be sure to plan your sun exposure accordingly!” Sebastian rolled his eyes as Alex waved in acknowledgement over his shoulder. He gently grabbed Sebastian’s pinky with his own and asked, “This okay?” Sebastian looked around, seeing that everybody was too caught up in their own fun to pay attention to them, and nodded. They went to join the boogie-ers, where Vincent was managing to stay balanced on his knees with only the occasional hand from Abby.

“Look at you staying up there, champ!” Alex grinned.

Vincent smiled back. “Yeah! Falling off is fun too, though.”

“You really do take after Sam,” Seb said with a smirk, ruffling Vincent’s hair.

Sam mock-glared at Sebastian from his board. “Jerk. Just for that …” He let himself fall directly onto Sebastian, dragging him under the water. Vincent immediately jumped after his big brother as a spluttering Seb resurfaced. He managed to get behind Sam and put him in a head lock with a noogie, threatening, “I’m going to mess up your hair SO BAD-“ Sam responded by pulling him back under the water. Alex and Abigail watched, laughing, as Seb and Vincent joined forces against Sam. Eventually he managed to shake his two attack barnacles off. The group spent the rest of the day switching between floating and playing in the water and sitting around on the beach. Haley showed up towards the beginning of the afternoon to tan, so Alex sat with her to chat for a while; she and Emily had gotten an email from their parents for the first time in a few weeks, filled with pictures from their latest adventure which Haley shared with him on her phone. He also spent a little time just watching Sebastian. He genuinely looked like he was enjoying himself for the most part, just hanging out in the waves with his friends with a small smile and the occasional laugh. A couple of times Alex caught Seb looking back at him, and when their eyes met, Seb’s little smile grew into the grin that was all for him, a grin that kept him distracted from anything else for a few minutes every time he saw it.

Eventually, dinner time rolled around. Most of the town had already left. Sam, Abby, and Vincent waved good-bye as they left the beach and Sebastian’s family and Alex started drying off and packing up. Alex hooked up an exhausted Dusty to his leash, and as they start back to town, Robin asked,

“Are you joining us for dinner, Alex? We’re going to pick up some pizza from the saloon on the way home.”

“Sure. I’m going to check on my grandparents first after I drop off Dusty, though.”

“Okay!”

Robin, Demetrius, and Maru headed into the saloon as Alex and Seb stopped at Dusty’s pen. Seb scratched Dusty’s head before Alex took him in.

“You gonna stay the night?” Seb asked as Alex checked Dusty’s food bowl.

“After watching you splash around like an emo little dolphin for hours? I had to hold back from carrying you off to some hidden corner of the beach and screwing you senseless all day.”

“Soooo … that’s a yes?” Sebastian asked innocently. Alex answered by leaving the pen and pulling him in for an over-the-top, sloppy kiss. They were both still salty from the ocean, and Alex enjoyed the taste mingled with that of Seb’s warm mouth. Sebastian stumbled a bit when Alex finally let go, a helpless smile on his face.

“C’mon, I just want to make sure my grandparents are all set for the night before we go to your house.”

When they entered the house, Grandpa George was watching his favorite game show, _Words-a-Million_ , at a volume slightly higher than Alex found comfortable. He grunted when Alex said hello.

“Hello, dear,” called Grandma Evelyn from the kitchen. Unlike Grandpa, her ears were still sharp. The smell of fresh sugar cookies filled the house.

“Hey, Grandma,” Alex greeted her with a hug. “I’m going to Sebastian’s tonight. Do you need anything from me before I go?”

“No, dear, we’re fine here. Did you have fun at the beach?”

“Yup. It was perfect outside today.”

“It certainly was. I had a lovely time tending to all the gardens. Sebastian, would you take these cookies back with you? Your mother did such a lovely job fixing up our shutters.”

“Sure thing, Granny.” Seb was still a little uncomfortable around Grandpa, but he and Grandma got along just fine. “You should grab a change of clothes,” he said to Alex.

“Oh, right.” As he went back to his room, he heard Grandma ask,

“Did you wear that sweatshirt all day in this heat, dear? I can’t imagine that’s good for you.” Alex stifled a laugh as he pulled a t-shirt on and grabbed some shorts and socks.

Sebastian replied, “No, no, just for the walk.”

After Alex said good night to both grandparents, they headed for the mountain, Alex with his arm around Seb’s shoulders, Seb with one arm around Alex’s waist and the other carrying the plate of cookies. They took the walk slowly, enjoying the evening air.

“So, how horrible was today?” Alex asked after a few minutes. Seb snorted quietly.

“It was actually okay. You might be able to drag me out again a couple more times this summer.”

“Good.” Alex paused. “I’m sorry if I was being too pushy about it.”

Seb shrugged. “Maybe a little. It’s okay though. I said I was going to, and you were willing to try sushi for me, so …”

Alex laughed at the memory. “That’s true! And now it’s pretty much the only thing I want to eat when we go into the city.”

They lapsed into silence briefly. Seb sighed.

“I used to love going to the beach on sunny days when I was a kid. I mean, what kid doesn’t, right? I can’t remember when I started avoiding it.” He shrugged again, now looking a little sad. Alex didn’t know how to respond, so he scooped Seb up into a hug, burying his face in Seb’s black, salt-encrusted hair.

“Hey, look out for the cookies!” Seb said in outrage that was only half-mocking.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re just dating me for my grandma’s baking,” Alex said in a wounded tone as he leaned back to look at Seb’s face.

“Yup, you’ve got me all figured out,” Seb said with his special Alex-only smile.

Alex couldn’t help but kiss him. Seb wrapped his free arm around Alex’s neck, keeping the plate of cookies balanced with the other.

“Hey you two! Pizza’s getting cold! Come put some pizza in your mouths instead of each other’s tongues!”

Seb broke off the kiss. “Shut up, Maru!” he shouted at the silhouette in the open door to his house.

“Hurry up and bring those cookies! I can smell them from here!” She went back inside. Alex snickered into Sebastian’s neck.

“Guess that’s our cue.” Alex started towards the door.

“Wait a sec.” Seb trotted over to the tree from that morning, and picked up his lighter and cigarettes and Alex’s shirt.

“Oh yeah,” Alex snagged his shirt back. He paused for a moment, then said,

“So, are you ready now?”

Seb stared at his house. “Dinner’s a lot more fun when you’re here, you know that? They can focus all their attention on you instead of me and I can actually enjoy my food.”

“Glad I can help.” Seb still didn’t move. Alex held out a hand and murmured, “C’mon. We’ll go have some pizza, I’ll make small talk for both of us, then we’ll go rinse the ocean off each other …” He trailed off with a grin. Seb shook his head with a sigh, then took the offered hand, ready to meet his fate for the evening with Alex at his side.

**Author's Note:**

> I was sort of working on another fanfic, and I was trying to think of good background pairings for it, and this couple just got stuck in my head. I would like to make them their own story, but that probably isn't going to happen for a while due to real-life non-creative writing obligations so this will have to do in the meantime. The only other story I could find for this pair on the site is this delightful little smut-piece by BlueJeansWhiteShirt: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9402692
> 
> I'm new to the website, so please let me know if there are any other tags I should include. Constructive criticism is welcome!


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